The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) is thrilled to be collaborating with Accelerate Change, the Center for Community Change, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) to develop a national association for immigrant communities. 

The national association will provide a range of services, including remittance and other discounts, online support networks, and financial and legal services to newly arrived, longtime, and naturalized immigrants. The new association will leverage the combined power of participating individuals and grassroots organizations across the country to negotiate for lower benefit costs from providers. 

As the foreign-born proportion of the the United States population continues to grow (currently at 40 million, 22 million of whom are not naturalized) and immigration reform affecting 7-11 million people looms on the horizon, there is an increasing urgency to be able to deliver vital services that can provide stability and open up economic opportunities for new Americans.  In addition to benefit negotiation and delivery, the Association will engage members on issues concerning the immigrant community, and encourage members to become more active in civic life.

Technology will play a vital role in helping the Association manage the challenge of reaching the scale necessary to serve thousands of new members. CPD is building the technological infrastructure of the new Association, and designing the database systems and processes that will support large-scale, efficient benefit delivery and member communications. 

CPD is also assisting with the development of the benefits program, helping to test different benefits and services such as discounts, financial services, and legal services in various markets to identify and shape services that will provide the most impact for immigrant communities.